10 Percenter: Porsche Buys Stake in Croatian EV Supercar Company

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If the fact that Porsche has come up with a suitably bizarre name for its upcoming electric four-door hasn’t demonstrated Stuttgart’s level of seriousness about the EV market, the following tidbit might: Porsche has purchased 10 percent of Rimac Automobili, the Croatian concern responsible for the superquick Rimac Concept_One and the recently unveiled C Two.

According to Porsche’s Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman and member of the executive board for finance and IT: “We feel that Rimac’s ideas and approaches are extremely promising, which is why we hope to enter into close collaboration with the company in the form of a development partnership.” The 10 percent is either a little or a lot, depending on how one looks at it. Surely, even in its post-Dieselgate state, Porsche parent Volkswagen Group could have purchased Mate Rimac’s impressive startup outright. On the other hand, there’s a strong “Not invented in Weissach? Bah!” line of thinking that runs through Porsche, so for the marque to reach out and tap the young Croatian company is a pretty big deal.

While Rimac’s cars are headline-grabbing promotional machines, much of the company’s bread-and-butter work lies in developing electrified systems for other automakers, including the kinetic-energy recovery system (KERS) on the Wagner-bonkers Aston Martin Valkyrie. Porsche is betting not only on the goodwill of being seen investing in an EV company but looking for a healthy return on investment as the future vehicle fleet sees increased electrification.